Finalists For the TIME India Awards Are Announced

Nine companies in sectors ranging from automobile engineering to steel manufacturing were named as the finalists for the inaugural TIME India Awards on January 21st, at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.

The awards encompass three categories—Best in Class Manufacturing, Manufacturing Innovator of the Year and Young Maker of the Year. The winners will be announced at a ceremony in the Indian financial capital Mumbai on Feb. 13 by Norman Pearlstine, Chief Content Officer for Time Inc. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be the guest of honor at the awards, which will kick-off a week-long series of events to mark the Indian government’s “Make in India” initiative to boost the country’s manufacturing sector.

A jury of leading international business figures will select the winners from the shortlist of nine. Top management consulting firm McKinsey & Company is the knowledge partner for the TIME India awards.

Pearlstine will the chair the jury, which includes General Electric vice chairman John G. Rice; Infosys founder N. R. Narayana Murthy; ICICI bank managing director and chief executive officer Chanda Kochhar; Renault and Nissan chief executive officer Carlos Ghosn; TIME assistant managing editor Rana Foroohar; and Kevin Sneader, Chairman, Asia, at McKinsey & Co.

At The World Economic Forum this week, GE’s Rice noted that India, currently the world’s fastest-growing large economy, presents both opportunities and challenges for companies aiming to manufacture on the subcontinent. Among the most positive factors, Rice said, is the depth of human capital. GE’s newest manufacturing facility outside of Mumbai has what Rice described as an “outstanding workforce” with large numbers of female engineers. “That kind of thing was impossible five years ago,” he said. But Rice, who oversees the company’s global operations based in Hong Kong, also said that structural obstacles remain. “The challenges are the frictional costs, getting things set up, getting permits, moving material between states.” He said that different Indian states need to “harmonize” on taxes and interstate commerce. “We want to be a good taxpayer,” he said, “but it has to be easier.”

From an initial pool of over 3,000 companies, the following nine made the shortlist:

Best in Class Manufacturing

Hindustan Unilever Limited

Shahi Exports Private Limited

Tata Steel Limited

Manufacturing Innovator of the Year

Hero MotoCorp Limited

Mahindra & Mahindra Limited

Samsung India Electronics Private Limited

Young Maker of the Year

Yogesh & Rajesh Agrawal, Ajanta Pharma Limited

Anant Vardhan Goenka, CEAT Limited

Anil Rai Gupta, Havells India Limited

You can find more information about the selection process and the categories here.